Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MS)

College, School or Department Name

Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Advisor

Spandan Maiti

Co-Advisor

Gregory M Odegard

Abstract

A method for the introduction of strong discontinuities into a mesh will be developed. This method, applicable to a number of eXtended Finite Element Methods (XFEM) with intra-element strong discontinuities will be demonstrated with one specific method: the Generalized Cohesive Element (GCE) method. The algorithm utilizes a subgraph mesh representation which may insert the GCE either adaptively during the course of the analysis or a priori. Using this subgraphing algorithm, the insertion time is O(n) to the number of insertions. Numerical examples are presented demonstrating the advantages of the subgraph insertion method.

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